Physis as Nature in Motion
An Inquiry of the Epistemological Frameworks of Natural Philosophy
Keywords:
“thing-in-itself”, the ontological problem of universal and singular, absence of motion, arrow of time, philosophy of biology, chaos theory, quantum mechanics, evolutionism, anthropocentrism, essentialism, concept of natureAbstract
The subject of sustainability subsumed by the environmental agenda has been widely approached without taking into account a rigorous examination of the concept of nature, and still being guided by a modern or even Christian epistemological matrix supported by an essentialist, anthropocentric and metaphysical sight. This paper seeks to expose some non-metaphysical theoretical alternatives, especially those derived from evolutionism, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory in which nature appears as a complex, moving, and unstable system that acts through creative and irreversible processes. Methodologically, it is intended to make a philosophical inquiry in order to criticize Christian and modern epistemologies, as well as the concept of nature that follows them, which contains both a creationist and an instrumental bias, to then propose some epistemological alternatives more in tune with the current stage of natural philosophy. As a result, it will be possible to observe that these more current theoretical conceptions require new terminology and conceptual structure to account for the experiences observed in this field which, ironically, come close to the ancient Greek concept of physis.
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